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CBA Officers 2017-2018

Chairman - Mark Driscoll, First National Bank Fort Collins

Mark Driscoll is currently Colorado Market President of First National Bank of Omaha. The Colorado bank is a $2.3 Billion institution with 24 retail banking offices. During a 32 year banking career, Driscoll has served as President of First National Bank for 18 of those years with the remaining years in various management and lending positions with First National Bank and one other bank. Driscoll has also worked at Colorado State University for a total of seven years – four years as an assistant football coach (1976-1980), and three years (2003-2006) as Director of Athletics. Driscoll currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Rocky Mountain Innosphere, the Colorado Bankers Association, Mountain States Employers Council and Serve 6.8. He is a graduate of Colorado State University with both a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Business Administration. Mark and his wife Neyla have three grown children and two grandchildren.

Chair-elect - Brendan Zahl, NBH

Mr. Brendan W. Zahl has served as NBH Bank’s Executive Vice President, Head of Residential Banking and Market President for the Colorado Springs Region since the merger of Peoples, Inc. and National Bank Holdings Corporation on January 1, 2018. He has also served as a Member of NBH Bank’s board of directors since such time. Prior to the merger, Mr. Zahl served as President and CEO of Peoples National Bank. Mr. Zahl began his banking career at FirstBank in Colorado Springs, CO. After a decade at FirstBank, he moved to Peoples National Bank in 2007 to take over Retail and Lending Management. He was promoted to President and CEO of Peoples National Bank in 2012. Mr. Zahl serves on the Board and as the Chairman-Elect of the Colorado Bankers Association and the Board of Partners in Housing. Mr. Zahl has held several board, advisory, and volunteer roles with many community organizations including Partners in Housing, Junior Achievement, United Way, Rotary International, and Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Zahl attended the University of Nebraska, where he was a member of two national championship football teams and graduated with honors with a Business Administration degree.

Treasurer - Joanne Sherwood, Citywide Banks

Joanne Sherwood is Division President for Citywide Banks in Denver. She has more than three
decades of experience in banking and has been with Citywide since 2000. As Division Pre
sident,
she has contributed significantly to the growth of Citywide. She has extensive training and work
experience
in
bank operations, loan portfolio management, strategic planning, and staff
development. She serves as a mentor to up
-
and
-
coming lenders and has developed a program
to assist and support women as they progress up the ranks. She earned her Bachelor's degree
in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from California State University at
Fullerton and an MBA from Pepperdine University. She is on the associate board of the Boys
and Girls Club of Denver. She is also involved with Arrupe Jesuit High
She
has strong ties to
construction and real estate and is an active member of the Home Builders Association.

CBA Staff

Don Childears, President & CEO

President/CEO of the Colorado Bankers Association since 1980, he previously did legislative analysis on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC and Congressional campaign work. He completed his Juris Doctor from the University of Denver College of Law in 1981, the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado, University of Colorado, in 1978, and a BSBA (Marketing) from Colorado State University in 1973.
His activities include: ● Building a Better Colorado (Treasurer), ● Let Colorado Vote (vice-chair), ● Colorado Competitive Council (chair), ● Colorado Concern, ● Colorado Civil Justice League (chair), ● Colorado Housing Council (chair), ● chairing large nonprofit fundraisers, ● political activities and campaigns, ● BancInsure Board of Directors, ● Graduate School of Banking at Colorado (University of Colorado) Trustee and Treasurer, ● ABA (Board of Directors, BankPac, Government Relations Council, State Association Division [chair], Regulatory Relief Task Force [chair), and ● other boards, task forces, etc.
He speaks or teaches on government, political influence, and banking, at banking schools, law schools, and associations. TV interviews include Al Jazeera, BBC, NBC, ABC, CNN, CNBC, PBS, Fox News and others as well as publications including American Banker, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, and Washington Post. He’s received numerous industry recognitions.
He grew up in Saguache (a small rural Colorado town) and is married to Linda Childears who is President of the Daniels Fund ($1.5B charitable foundation) in Denver.

Jenifer Waller, Chief Operating Officer

Jenifer Waller was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2017 after holding the position of Senior Vice President since 1999. She started in community banking in Southern Colorado in 1985 and attended the Western States School of Banking. Prior to her days at CBA, Waller spent almost five years as a bank examiner for the Colorado Division of Banking. Waller is involved with numerous organizations, serving on the Board of the Colorado Civil Justice League, the Colorado Fraud and Identity Theft Unit and the Colorado Energy Environment District. She has been appointed to several state task forces addressing issues impacting Colorado, including the elder abuse task force and the wildfire task force. Waller enjoys politics and volunteering for campaigns. When she is not working she enjoys spending time with her sons Joe and Travis and husband Doug.

Amanda Averch, Director of Communications

Amanda Averch has been the Director of Communications for the Colorado Bankers Association since summer 2012. She truly enjoys the research and informational aspects of her position, as well as developing and executing CBA’s communication strategy. Previous to her time at CBA, she worked for nearly six years providing public relations and communications services at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. Prior to that, she worked for seven years as a criminal justice beat reporter for the Longmont Daily Times-Call newspaper. She is the recipient of journalism awards from the Colorado Press Association and the National Newspaper Association. A Colorado native, she received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Colorado State University in 2000. Amanda serves on the board of directors for Colorado Jump$tart and as a steering committee member of Bank on Denver. She has previously served on the board of Think 360 Arts for Learning. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Brad, their daughter, Tahlia, their dogs and cat and visiting with friends and family.

Mike Bintner, Director of Education

Mike Bintner is the Director of Education. He joined in February of 2014. Mike’s role with CBA is to coordinate and promote ongoing educational offerings and manage and coordinate all aspects of events and meetings. Mike also is responsible for managing CBA's relationship with its associate members, as well as running the organization's Center for Bank Advocacy Training Practicum. Previous to joining CBA, Mike worked for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. Before that he worked as a lobbyist and at the Colorado state Capitol, in the house majority office. A Denver native, Mike got his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and History from Doane College, where he also played four years of college football. In his spare time, Mike enjoys Colorado’s great outdoors and coaching youth football.

Brandon Knudtson, Director of Membership

Brandon Knudtson joined the Colorado Bankers Association as Director of Membership in 2016. Prior to working for CBA, he was a Branch Manager for US Bank. Brandon grew up in northern Colorado and moved to the Denver area in 2012. In his free time, he and his family enjoy outdoor actives such as biking, hiking and snowboarding. He and his wife Leah are parents to Callie Mae and Cayton. The family has two dogs, Mojo and Bella.

Lindsay Muniz, Executive and Office Assistant

Lindsay Muniz serves as the Executive Assistant at CBA since the beginning of 2016. Originally from St. Louis, MO she and her family moved to Colorado in 1995. Prior to her career at CBA, Lindsay worked as a florist in a retail environment for 12 years. During that time she graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver with a bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science and a minor in Business Management. In Lindsay’s free time she enjoys spending time with her family or outside hiking, riding bikes and snowboarding. She and her husband, Devin, have one spoiled dog, Vinny.